Avatar eye control in a multi-user animation environment

ABSTRACT

In a multi-participant modeled virtual reality environment, avatars are modeled beings that include moveable eyes creating the impression of an apparent gaze direction. Control of eye movement may be performed autonomously using software to select and prioritize targets in a visual field. Sequence and duration of apparent gaze may then be controlled using automatically determined priorities. Optionally, user preferences for object characteristics may be factored into determining priority of apparent gaze. Resulting modeled avatars are rendered on client displays to provide more lifelike and interesting avatar depictions with shifting gaze directions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S.provisional application Ser. No. 60/944,723, filed Jun. 18, 2007, whichis hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to computer-generated virtual environmentsin which participants are represented by computer-generated avatars, andin particular, to computer-generated virtual environments that simulatean actual 3-D environment and allow for simultaneous participation andinteraction by multiple users in the virtual environment through theavatars.

BACKGROUND

Computer generated virtual worlds are becoming increasingly popular. Inmany of the computer generated virtual worlds, users interact with oneanother and participate in communities in the virtual world in real timethrough a networked system.

Environments of this type are sometimes referred to as “virtual reality”or “virtual reality universe” (VRU) environments.

In known VRU environments, an actual or fantasy universe is simulatedwithin a computer memory. Multiple players may participate in theenvironment through a computer network, such as a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN). Each player selects an “avatar” torepresent them in the VRU environment. The avatar may be athree-dimensional embodiment of a man, woman, animal, or other entity.Players send inputs to the VRU engine to move their avatars around theVRU environment, and are able to cause interaction between their avatarsand objects in the VRU. For example, a player's avatar may interact withan automated entity or person, simulated static objects or otheravatars.

The VRU may take the form of at least one area or environment which is avirtual reality three-dimensional map existing in a computer memory,consisting of elements that may include but are not limited torepresentations of rooms, outdoor areas, exotic environments, objects,people, animals, robots, avatars, robot avatars, time elements,additional special elements, and activities. Users establish a presencein the VRU by creating or using an avatar, which is a three-dimensionalrepresentative of the user in the VRU, and which can be navigated by theuser around various environments in the VRU. Single or multiple views ofthe VRU are displayed to the user on a computer display and userinterface software as known in the art. Each user provides input to acomputer controlling the VRU using an input device connected to a localnode or client, which in turn is connected to the networked computersystem. The VRU is shared by all players and participants using elementsfrom the common memory.

The computer system is used to control the action of the avatars inresponse to user input. For example, avatars may be limited to simplyobserving the environment or area. But usually, avatars can interactwith other avatars, objects, the environment (e.g., walls, floors,roads, lakes, etc.), and automated or robotic avatars within at leastone environment.

One of the most challenging tasks of computer graphics is providing arealistic animation of the face and of voluntary and involuntary facialmovements. A great deal of effort has been focused on facial movementsthat accompany speech, while the motions of certain other facialcomponents, in particular eye and head movements, have largely beenneglected. These two motions define the gaze behavior of the face. Aperson's gaze is one essential component of non-verbal communication andsocial interaction. Human beings generally monitor, either consciouslyor subconsciously, the eye and head movements of persons they areinteracting with. In the real world, eye movement can be an importantindicator of an internal emotional or mental state, providing animportant stimulus for interesting face-to-face interaction. Adequatestimulus provided by eye movement is currently lacking in simulatedface-to-face avatar interactions in VRU environments.

What is needed therefore is a system and method that can overcome theseand other limitations of prior-art VRU environments.

SUMMARY

A multi-user animation system that receives input from multiple remoteusers to manipulate avatars through a modeled 3-D environment isdisclosed herein. Each user is represented by an avatar. The 3-Denvironment and avatar position/location data is provided to the clientworkstations, which display a simulated environment visible to allparticipants. Non-player characters, objects and avatars in the VRU maybe associated with a “visual attractiveness” characteristic value.Avatars or non-player characters in the VRU are programmed for simulatedeye movement based on the attractiveness rating of objects within theavatar's simulated field of view. This creates more natural eyemovements, so that avatars in the environment do not have a fixed stare,while freeing participants from the need to actively control eyemovements.

In one embodiment, systems and methods are disclosed for animating anavatar's gaze. “Gaze” is used herein to mean an apparent direction inwhich an avatar's eye or eyes are fixed, whether momentarily or for alonger period. The avatar's gaze is animated to simulate a natural gazepattern instead of a fixed gaze. Optionally, users may overrideautonomous gazing patterns of their avatars to manually control eyemovements. A natural gaze pattern typically occurs when a subject viewsa scene without any specific task in mind, i.e., when the subject issimply watching the scene. In the systems and methods disclosed herein,the avatar's gaze pattern is controlled by the attractiveness value ofvisual targets in the avatar's defined the field of view.

In accordance with one aspect of the embodiment, a method comprises thesteps of providing a digital representation of an avatar and a modeledscene in a computer memory, wherein the digital representation includesat least one modeled eye. A field of view for the modeled eye isdetermined, wherein the field of view encompasses visual targets in themodeled scene. The modeled eye is then directed to gaze at differentselected visual targets in the field of view. The sequence in which themodeled eye gazes at the different visual targets is determined using adefined attractiveness value for each of the visual targets and ageometrical relationship between each visual target and the modeled eye.Data configured to cause a client computer to display a rendered view ofthe modeled scene and avatar is outputted onto a user's display or othersuitable device. In accordance with another aspect of the embodiment, acomputer-readable media encoded with instructions operative to performthese method steps are provided.

The avatar's field of view in a modeled scene is determined based on theorientation of the avatar in the scene, the forward facing direction ofthe avatar's eyes or line of sight, and the breadth of field anglerelative to a line of sight. Thus, the avatar's field of view in themodeled scene may be changed by manipulating any one or more thesefactors such as, for example, by moving the avatar around in the modeledscene, by turning the avatar's eyes to a different direction, or bychanging the angular extent of the avatar's field of view. The angularextent of the avatar's field of view may range anywhere from about 10°to about 365°, depending on the placement of the avatar's eyes relativeto one another. For example, if the avatar has a pair of eyes on thesame side of the head, resembling a human being, then that avatar'sfield of view may be about 180° in the forward facing direction of theavatar's eyes. On the other hand, if the avatar has a pair of eyes onopposite sides of the head, resembling a bird, then the avatar's fieldof view may be about 365°. Regardless of the placement of the avatar'seyes, the angular extent of the avatar's field of view may be auser-defined variable and therefore controlled and changed by the user.

Once the avatar's field of view is determined, the visual targets uponwhich the avatar may direct its gaze may be identified. The modeledscene typically contains a number of objects and other avatars, of whichonly those objects and avatars that at least partially fall within theavatar's field of view are considered visual targets. The visual targetsmay each be associated with an attractiveness or interest value, whichdetermines the relative order in which the avatar will gaze at each ofthe visual targets. The attractiveness value may be a fixedpredetermined numerical value or it may be calculated based on one or asum of defined user preference numerical values. The visual targets mayalso be or become “dynamic visual targets” which are associated with ameasure of movement, sound, or both. The avatar may thus be programmedto interrupt its gaze sequence to direct its gaze towards the dynamicvisual targets. This simulates the natural reflex for humans and animalsto look in the direction of movement and sound.

The avatar's eyes may be programmed to change its gaze upon variousvisual targets in a manner that simulates a natural gaze pattern in themodeled scene. The avatar's gaze pattern is transmitted to the displaysof other players having avatars in the same modeled scene so that theymay also observe and interpret the avatar's gaze pattern.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a system according to anembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a system according to anotherembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view representational drawing of an avatar in a modeledscene comprising various visual targets.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing exemplary steps of a method for animatingan avatar's gaze in a modeled scene.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an avatar's face with visual targets in theavatar's field of view.

FIGS. 6A-F is a front view of the avatar's face depicting movement ofthe avatar's eyes towards visual targets in a sequence according toattractiveness value.

FIG. 7 shows and schematic cross-sectional view of an exemplary modeledeye. Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views ofthe drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Various systems and methods for providing a three-dimensional,multiplayer interactive animation to multiple players are known in theart, or may be adapted by one of ordinary skill for use with the system.For example, rendering of a scene may be performed at the client orserver level. Generally, it may be advantageous to perform calculationsand graphics operations, to the extent possible, at the client level,thereby freeing up network bandwidth and minimizing loads on the server.The system disclosed herein is not limited to a particular hardware orsoftware architecture for carrying out the steps described herein.

Referring to FIG. 1, a system 100 for providing a VRU to multiple usersmay comprise a plurality of client sites, nodes or terminals, such as apersonal computer 104, portable computers 106, 110, a compact player,cell phone or digital assistant 108, and/or a router 112 communicatingvia a WAN 102 to one or more servers 114. Servers 114 store and serveVRU data and software to the client sites. Software or firmware may alsobe located at each client site, configured to work cooperatively withsoftware or firmware operating on servers 114. Generally, any number ofusers may be communicating with servers 114 for participating in the VRUat any given time. Servers 114 and any or all of clients 104, 106, 108,and 110 may store executable code and data used in the performance ofmethods as described herein on a computer-readable media, such as, forexample, a magnetic disc, an optical disk, an electronic memory device,or other magnetic, optical or electronic storage media. Software datafor use in performing the method may be provided to any or all clientdevices via a suitable communication signal for network 102.

Referring to FIG. 2, a system 200 for providing a VRU process may beconsidered to be comprised of server-side components (to the left ofdashed line 222) and client-side components (to the right of dashed line222). Server-side components may comprise a portal 220 for managingconnections to multiple simultaneous players. Portal 220 may interactwith a VRU engine 218, passing user input 221 from multiple clients to aVRU engine 218, and passing data 223 from the VRU engine 218 torespective individual players. VRU engine 218 may be operativelyassociated with various memory spaces, including environmental spaces208 holding two or more separate VRU environments 212, 214, 215, and216, and a personalized or common data space 210.

Objects in a VRU are modeled as three-dimensional objects, ortwo-dimensional objects, having a defined location, orientation,surface, surface texture, and other properties for graphic rendering orgame behavior. Environmental memory space 208 may hold active orinactive instances of defined spaces used in the VRU environment. Forexample, the environment of a popular simulated nightclub, shoppingarea, beach, street, and so forth. Personalized space 210 may becomprised of various different personal areas each assigned to adifferent user, for example, avatar or avatar accessories data. The VRUengine may operate with other memory areas not shown in FIG. 2, forexample various data libraries, archives, and records not inconsistentwith the methods and systems disclosed herein. In addition, oralternatively, portions of all data maintained in memories 208, 210 maybe maintained by individual clients at a local level.

One function of the VRU engine 218 is to manage and aggregate input frommultiple users, process that input to provide multi-participantanimation scenes, and then prepare appropriate output data for animatingor rendering scenes to be distributed to individual clients. To reducesystem bandwidth requirements, it may be desirable to maximize theprocessing that is performed at the client level. Accordingly, the VRUengine may process and prepare high-level scene data, while lower-levelfunctions, such as animation and rendering, may be performed by anapplication residing at the client level. For example, the VRU engine218 may output object information to clients only when the objectpopulation of a scene changes. A copy of object parameters may bemaintained locally while the object is located in a scene, and for someperiod of time afterwards.

Thus, the VRU engine 218 may provide a virtual three-dimensionalenvironment, or a modeled scene, within a computer memory, which isdisplayed on the user's display 226. The modeled scene may simulate aregion of space, for example, the surface of a planet or region thereof,the inside of a room or building, the surface of an island, and soforth. A modeled scene may be highly complex and may include a number ofobjects, such as signs, furniture, plants, other avatars, animals,robots, and any other object that takes up space in the modeled scene.Modeled scenes or spaces may be of different types, meaning they may bemodeled according to different rules. They may be connected in thattransportation between spaces may be allowed, at least for some avatarsin the environment.

Each user may customize an avatar to have an appearance and qualitiesspecified by the user, by choosing avatar characters, features, clothingand/or accessories from an online catalog or store. The particulararrangement selected by a user may reside in a personalized space 210that is associated with a particular user, specifying which avatarelements are to be drawn from a common space to construct an avatar. Acustomized avatar instance may be stored in a personalized space 210 forthe user. In the alternative, or in addition, a user may own customizedelements of an avatar, including clothing, accessories, simulatedphysical powers, etc., that are stored solely in the personalized space210 and are not available to other users. Avatars may move and interactboth with common elements and personalized elements.

A separate administration module 202 may operate at the server level tocreate, update, modify or otherwise control the content of the VRU asdefined in the memory areas 208 and 210. Generally, changes in thepersonal space area 210 are driven by individual users, either throughthe VRU administrator 202 or another module. Control of common areas,i.e., the game environment and the objects in it, including anymulti-dimensional areas, may be via the administrator module 202.

At the client level, a player interface module 224 may be installed toreceive player inputs from one or more user input devices 228, such as akeyboard, mouse or other pointer, or microphone, and provide data to theVRU engine 218 via portal 220 in response to the input. The playerinterface module 224 may also receive game data from portal 220 andprocess the data for display on display 226 and/or for audio output onspeaker 230. Animation data, environmental data, chat data, executablecode or any combination of the foregoing may be stored in a localmemory. The VRU engine 218 also provides a rendering of a player'savatar in the modeled scene.

FIG. 3 depicts a top view of an avatar 300 in a modeled scene 350containing other inanimate objects, 310, 312 and 314 and other avatars,320, 322, 324, 326, and 328. Avatar 300 has a field of view whichincludes visual targets in the modeled scene. Although a modeled scenemay contain a number of objects and other avatars, it is understood thatvisual targets refer only to objects and avatars which at leastpartially fall within the avatar's field of view. A field of view may begenerally understood as portion or volume of the modeled space that isdeemed visible to an avatar.

The avatar's field of view in a modeled scene 350 may be determinedbased on the orientation of the avatar's head, the forward facingdirection of the avatar's eyes, and the breadth-of-field angle θ. Theline of sight 302 may comprise a vector originating from one modeled eyeor from a point near the eye, and may be computed from the orientationof the avatar's head and an orientation of the pertinent modeled eye inthe avatar's head. In some embodiments, a field of view may be relatedto two or more lines of sight and associated breadth-of-field angles,each pertaining to a modeled eye.

The avatar's field of view in the modeled scene 350 may be changed bymanipulating any one or more of the avatar's orientation, forward facingdirection (orientation) of eyes relative to the head, or thebreadth-of-field angle θ. The angle θ may be provided as a preset valueor may be changed by the player. A field of view may be determined inany suitable fashion. In some embodiments, or at some times, it may bedesirable for the field of view to be correlated to the orientation ofthe avatar's eyes so that the field of view changes when the avatar'seyes move. In the alternative, the field of view may be determinedwithout using the orientation of the eyes, such as by using theorientation of the avatar's face or body, exclusive of the eyes. Thismay provide simpler yet still effective computation of the field ofview. Also, leaving eye orientation out of a field of view determinationmay provide a more natural effect, particularly for largebreadth-of-field angles such as 180°, in that the avatar's field of viewmay remain fixed until the user issues a command to move the avatar orturn its head. In either case, the user controlling the avatar may begiven the avatar's view of the modeled VRU space, or may pick anotherviewpoint.

It should be understood that gaze control as described herein need notbe used to determine viewpoints for rendering a modeled scene, althoughit is capable of being used in this way. Gaze control for an avatar maybe implemented as completely separate from viewpoint selection forrendering purposes, merely to provide a more lifelike animated externalappearance of the avatar. As such, movement of the avatar's eyes neednot be related to the view of the modeled scene that the avatar's usersees on his or her display screen. While the apparent gaze of the avatarmay change as the avatars eyes are modeled in different orientations,this need not affect the view of the space that the user sees or thefield of view that is used to assess target objects.

A database of user preference data may be provided in the personalizedspace. The user preference data may comprise preference values for aparticular avatar characteristic, such as gender, sexual orientation,race, hair color, eye color, body types, and clothes. The userpreference data may also comprise preference values for objects, such asshape, size, color, texture, and any other object feature orcharacteristic. In addition, the user preference data may comprisepreference values for user-defined features, characteristics, orobjects. For example, a user whose avatar has a hobby of collectingbooks may define a high preference value for books that are in theavatar's field of view.

The extent of the avatar's field of view may be defined by the breadthangle θ relative to the line of sight 302. FIG. 3 depicts two possiblefields of view 315 and 325, each defined by two different angles θ₁ andθ₂, about 35° and about 180°, respectively. The avatar 300 is depictedin FIG. 3 as having a set of two eyes 301 a and 302 b facing in the samedirection. Therefore the avatar 300 may have a field of view that iscloser to about 180°.

It is understood, however, that an avatar's field of view may rangeanywhere from about 5° to about 360°, depending on the placement of theavatar's eyes relative to each other and the player's preferences orselections. For example, a bird avatar may have eyes that are located onopposite sides of the head relative to one another and therefore acorresponding field of view that is closer to about 360°. Alternatively,the bird avatar may have a field of view that is set by the player.

Notwithstanding the location or position of the avatar's eyes, theangular extent θ of the avatar's field of view may be predetermined bythe VRU administrator or set by the player. The larger the avatar'sfield of view, the greater the number of visual targets upon which theavatar 300 will need to process and direct its gaze. Thus, in certaininstances, it may be desirable to limit the field of view to a smallerarea in order to reduce the number of visual targets that the avatarwill need to process and look at. On the other hand, selecting a widefield of view, such as about 180°, may facilitate embodiments in whichthe field of view is determined solely by the orientation of theavatar's head and is independent of eye orientation.

In one embodiment, the avatar 300 may be programmed by the player tohave a 180° field of view 325. In accordance with this embodiment, thevisual targets for the avatar 300 would include objects 310, 312, 314and avatars 320, 322, 324, and 328. Although avatar 328 is onlypartially within the field of view 325, avatar 328 is still considered avisual target. Avatar 326, however, is entirely outside of the field ofview 325 and therefore would not be considered a visual target. Inanother embodiment, the avatar 300 may be programmed to have a smallerfield of view, such as a 35° field of view 315. In accordance with thisembodiment, the only visual target for the avatar 300 would be avatar324, with the other objects in the modeled scene as existing outside ofthe avatar's field of view 315.

Because the avatar's field of view is defined by the angularrelationship θ that is centered relative to the line of sight 302 in theforward facing direction of the avatar's eyes, changes in orientation ordirection of the avatar in the modeled scene changes the avatar's fieldof view and therefore the visual targets contained within it.Determining the field of view for the avatar may be performed byserver-side components, by client-side components, or both. Either theVRU engine or the player interface, or both, may determine theorientation and the forward facing direction of the avatar's eyes in themodeled scene and thus may determine a field of view for the avatar'seyes.

Visual targets, such as other avatars, may be associated with a measureof movement, sound or other time-dependent parameters. These visualtargets may be referred to as “dynamic visual targets.” Thus, in orderto simulate the natural reflex to look at moving objects or to look inthe direction of a noise or sound, avatar 300 may be programmed toprioritize its gaze to dynamic visual targets in the field of view,regardless of any predetermined or calculated attractiveness value. Ifmultiple dynamic visual targets are competing for the avatar'sattention, the avatar 300 may be programmed to prioritize its gaze basedon the proximity of the dynamic visual targets to the line of sight 302.Therefore, the avatar 300 will look first at the dynamic visual targetswhich are closest to the line of sight 302.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing exemplary steps of a method 400 fordirecting the movement of an avatar's eyes to simulate a natural gazepattern. Method 400 may be implemented by appropriate hardware andsoftware such as described in systems 100, 200 herein. Once the field ofview and the visual targets contained within the field of view aredetermined at step 402, the VRU engine 218 or the player interface 224determines whether the visual targets have a predeterminedattractiveness or interest value 404 and, if so, assign thepredetermined attractiveness value associated to the visual target 406.If the visual target does not have a predetermined attractiveness value,then the attractiveness value may be calculated based on userpreferences. In the alternative, a calculated value may be used inaddition to a predetermined value. For example, visual targets may beprioritized based on a predetermined attractiveness value weighted bytime-dependent factors such as the objects relative proximity to theobserver, relative distance from the line of sight, speed, noise, and soforth. Generally, it may be desirable to assign a higher attractivenessor level of interest to nearby objects, objects closer to the line ofsight, moving objects, and noisy objects. An algorithm may be used todetermine these attributes of each visual target at selected timesduring modeling, and include them in determining attractiveness values.

The VRU engine or player interface may access the database for userpreferences 408. User preferences may be used as a factor in weightingvisual targets in a gaze priority list. The VRU engine or playerinterface may apply the preference values corresponding to the visualtarget features listed in the database 410. A calculated attractivenessvalue may be determined for each visual target by weighting the visualtarget features with the specific user preferences 412. For example, ifa visual target has red hair and a user has indicated a preference forred hair, the red-haired target may be weighted more highly than targetswith other hair colors.

After the attractiveness values for each visual target are assigned orcalculated, a determination may be made as to whether two or more visualtargets share the same attractiveness value 422. If so, then therelative order of these visual targets may be randomized 424. Otherwise,the visual targets may be prioritized from highest to lowestattractiveness value 432 and the movement of the avatar's eyes may besequentially directed to each of the visual targets in that order 442,or in a random order. For example, the eyes may be directed at the mostattractive target first, held there for a period proportional to itsattractiveness value, then directed at the second-most attractiveobject, and so forth. Other gaze sequences may result in more naturaleffects. For example, an alternative sequence may be described as“1,2,1,3,1,4 . . .” and may comprise always returning the avatar's gazeto the most attractive target in the field after looking away. In thistype of sequence, the order in which the secondary objects are gazed atneed not be in order of attractiveness although the duration of gaze maystill be related to target attractiveness. For example, a sequence of“1,7,1,3,1,2 . . .” may provide a natural effect, with every-othertarget, i.e., the non-principal targets, selected in a random sequences.

The duration that the eye gazes at a specific visual target may bedetermined according to a determined relative attractiveness value.Generally, the higher the attractiveness value of an object, the longerthe avatar may be modeled as if gazing at that object. Likewise, if anobject is relatively unattractive or uninteresting, or if its interestlevel is high for only a brief period, than the duration of the avatar'sapparent gaze towards it may be correspondingly brief. Providing anappropriately-weighted gaze duration for each target object may beimportant for achieving a natural effect, perhaps even more so thandetermining a gaze sequence.

As an avatars view wanders, different objects may enter the field ofview. Also, different objects may enter and leave the field of view bytheir own movement. Attractiveness values may be recalculated atdifferent times and rankings may change. Such changes may draw theavatar's eyes away from what the user is most interested in looking at,or cause a distracting “wandering eye” effect. To prevent an undueamount of gaze wandering, various limits may be employed. One limit mayinclude fixing the field of view irrespective of eye movement. In suchcase, the field of view does not change even as the avatars eyes move,and appear to move to other avatars. To change the field of view, theuser may be required to provide some command input, such as commandinput for moving the avatar's head or body. However, to other users, theavatars eyes would appear to move, even when its field of view isactually fixed. This may provide a somewhat natural effect forsituations such as conversing with other avatars. In such circumstances,the end user, much like his alter-ego the avatar, may look at differentobjects in the field of view but generally would not change the overallfield of view until the conversation was over and the user issued acommand to turn away. Another useful limit may be to limit rapid eyemovements, to limit movements away from a central line of sight, or tocause eye movements to return to a previous principal line of site afterlooking away.

Referring back to FIG. 2, predetermined attractiveness values for visualtargets may be stored in the environmental memory space 208, thepersonalized space 210, or in a separate memory area associated with theVRU engine or residing at the local client level. The database of userpreference data may be stored in the personalized space 210 or in amemory area associated with the VRU engine or residing at the localclient level.

The user preference data may include numerical preference values forparticular avatar features, such as gender, sexual orientation, race,hair color, eye color, body types, and clothes. The user preference datamay also comprise preference values for particular objects or objectfeatures, such as shape, size, color, texture, and any other objectattribute. In addition, the user preference data may comprise preferencevalues for user-defined features, characteristics, or objects. Forexample, a user whose avatar has a hobby of collecting books may definea high preference value for books. This may cause the avatar to glancefirst at any books that appear in the avatar's field of view. This typeof behavior may add interest to the VRU environment by providing asubtle signal of what a user's interests are. By observing anotheravatar's eye movements in different situations, a user may receive cluesas to the preference settings of the user that the avatar belongs to.

The attractiveness or interest value for a visual target may berepresented as a single numerical value. If a visual target does nothave a predetermined attractiveness value assigned to it, the visualtarget may be assigned an attractiveness value based on user preferencedata for certain characteristics. For example, the database of userpreference data may comprise a feature listing and correspondingnumerical values generally reflecting the extent of the user'spreference for the particular feature. The attractiveness value assignedto the visual target is the sum of the preference values for all of itsfeatures which are provided in the user's preference.

Table 1 shows one example of how user preference data preference may beprovided for female avatar features.

TABLE 1 User Preference Data: FEMALE AVATAR Feature Preference ValuesGender Female 10 Sexual orientation Heterosexual 5 Homosexual 4 Race Nopreference 0 Hair color Blonde 10 Brown 5 Eye color Blue 5 Brown 3 Bodytype Slender 8 Clothes None 20 Lingerie 15 Dress 10 Skirt 5Thus, in accordance with the user preference data provided in Table 1, afemale, heterosexual avatar with blonde hair, blue eyes, slender bodytype, and wearing lingerie may have an attractiveness value (AV) of 53,if all factors are equally weighted. Similarly, user preference data maybe provided for male avatars, animal avatars, and the like.

Additionally, user preference data may be provided for objects,categories of objects, or words. Table 2 shows one example of how userpreference data preference may be provided for objects:

TABLE 2 User Preference Data: OBJECTS Classification Preference ValuesBooks 5 Automobiles Car 20 Motorcycle 20 Telephone 15 Animals Dogs 10Rats −10 Words JENNIFER 50 LOVE 10As can be seen in Table 2 above, the user preference data may includeobjects to which the avatar has a strong preference or aversion to. Inaddition, the user preference data may include words which will commandthe avatar's attention when the they are, for example, printed on a signor spoken by other avatars. For example, Table 2 may include theavatar's name, in this case “Jennifer,” or certain other buzz wordswhich would pique the avatar's interest, such as “Love.” The highpreference value assigned to the word “JENNIFER” make it likely that theavatar will gaze first in the direction where this word appears or fromwhich the word is spoken by another avatar.

Preference values may be provided as positive whole numbers to reflectthe extent of the avatar's preference for a particular object, or asnegative number to reflect the extent of the avatar's aversion or lackof interest for a particular object. In certain instances, objects oravatar features to which the avatar may have a strong aversion may beassociated with a high positive preference value such that the avatartakes notice of such object of avatar features when it comes into theavatar's field of view. This mimics a typical human response in whichone's attention may be directed to groteseque objects or events. Inother words, a more general understanding of “attractiveness value” is“interest value.” As used herein, attractiveness refers to visualinterest of all types, not just in objects that are pleasant to look at.

In the event that a particular avatar or object does not have apredetermined attractiveness value or any preference values associatewith its features, a default attractiveness value may be assigned to theavatar or object. Again, the default value may be any value, such aszero 0, and may be set by the VRU administrator or by the player.

After the attractiveness values for each of the visual targets aredetermined, the VRU engine or the player interface may cause theavatar's eyes to move in a manner that simulates a natural gaze pattern.The avatar's gaze pattern is transmitted to other players having in themodeled scene so that they may also observe the avatar's gaze pattern.The movement of the avatar's eyes may be directed to the visual targetsin sequence based on the attractiveness value and the geometricrelationship between the visual targets. The attractiveness value for avisual target may be predetermined or it may be determined based on userpreference data that is applied to the visual targets.

Referring back to FIG. 2, if the movement of the avatar's eyes isexecuted by client-side components, then the player interface 224 maythen transmit the data 221 relating to the avatar's eye movementsthrough the portal 220 and to the VRU engine 218 such that the data 221may be outputted to the displays for the other players in the modeledscene. If the movement of the avatar's eyes is executed by server-sidecomponents, then the data relating to the avatar's eye movements maysimply be outputted to the displays for the other players through theportal 220. In both embodiments, players with avatars are able tovisualize the gaze patterns of other avatars in the same modeled sceneto provide a more realistic of life-like appearance.

FIG. 5 is a simplified front view of an avatar's face 500 with exemplaryvisual targets 510, 512, 514, 516, 518, and 520 in the avatar's field ofview. The avatar's face 500 includes a pair of eyes 502 a,b each havinga darkened center 504 a,b which represents the iris/pupil of theavatar's eyes. It should be understood that the avatar is represented ina simplified, flat form for illustrative clarity. In many VRUapplications, the avatar may have a more detailed, three-dimensionalappearance, and may be modeled as a three-dimensional object, as knownin the art.

Each of the visual targets may an attractiveness value (AV) associatedwith it based on the user preference values as provided in Tables 1 and2. As shown in FIG. 5, the avatar's eyes 502 a,b are depicted with afixed forward stare which gives no indication of the avatar's awarenessof the visual targets in the avatar's field of view.

Since the movement of the eyes 502 a,b is tracked by the movement of thedarkened centers 504 a,b, an avatar will have the appearance of having afixed, blank stare if there is no movement of the darkened centers 504a,b. This is undesirable, as this lack of eye movement imparts anartificial or lifeless appearance to the avatar.

In contrast, FIGS. 6A-F show exemplary eye movements of the avatar 600in accordance with the attractiveness values provided for the visualtargets in the avatar's field of view. As depicted in FIGS. 6A-F, thegaze direction of the avatar's eyes 502 a,b is tracked by the movementof the darkened centers 504 a,b. Thus, the avatar 500 may direct itsapparent gaze to a particular visual target by moving the darkenedcenters 504 a,b of its eyes 502 a,b in the direction of the visualtarget, as indicated by the dotted lines. FIGS. 6A-F show an exemplarysequence in which the avatar 500 may direct its gaze towards the visualtargets is provided in order of highest to lowest AV, in this case 510,512, 514, 516, 518, 520. In accordance with this embodiment, thelocation of the avatar's eyes and the location of the visual targets mayrepresented by a set of coordinates, e.g., (x, y, z), in the modeledspace. The direction of the avatar's gaze towards a particular visualtarget may comprise a vector originating from an eye and pointed in thedirection of the visual target.

With reference to FIG. 7, each avatar eye may be modeled asthree-dimensional convex surface 700 with freedom to rotate sphericallyaround a defined point 702 relative to a surrounding avatar skin 706. Inthe alternative, the avatar and/or eye may be modeled as solid objects.The eye surface 700 may be associated with a surface texture providing adark region 704 representing a pupil and iris in the middle of a lightregion resembling eye white. A view direction vector 708 may be definedby pivot point 702 and a center point 710 associated with a center ofthe dark region 704, which may be used to determine an orientation ofthe eye. A VRU module at the local or server lever may cause an avatarto assume an apparent gaze towards an object by rotating the eye surface700 so that the direction vector 708 is pointed at the viewed object.Various other methods for modeling a movable eye with an apparent gazedirection may also suitable.

As noted above, the avatar's field of view may or may not be the same asthe player's field of view as provided in the rendering of the modeledscene that is seen on the display. For example, the VRU engine mayprocess and output onto the display a rendering of the modeled scenethat reflects the avatar's field of view. Alternatively, the VRU enginemay process and output a rendering of the scene which is entirelyindependent of the avatar's field of view. The player may be providedthe option of choosing the type of view that is provided in the display,whether it be from the perspective of the avatar's field of view or froma third person perspective, and switching or alternating between views.Alternatively, the display may provide a split screen in which the twoviews are provided simultaneously.

Thus, in one embodiment, a viewpoint and gaze direction corresponding tothe orientation of the modeled eye in the scene is determined andoutputted to a client associated with the avatar. The client isconfigured for rendering the scene from the viewpoint and gaze directionand providing the rendered scene on the display. In accordance with thisembodiment, the player is able to observe the modeled scene from theavatar's perspective. Thus, as the avatar's viewpoint and gaze directionis directed to a particular item in the modeled scene, this data isoutputted to the client interface which renders that item in the modeledscene on the player's display. As the avatar's viewpoint and gazedirection changes according to the attractiveness value of the avatarsand objects provided in the modeled scene, the changed viewpoint andgaze direction is again outputted to the client interface and renderedon the player's display.

Because modeled scene rendered on the player's display changes inaccordance with the avatar's viewpoint and gaze direction, it may bepreferable to control the length of time between display changes. Thisis because it would be undesirable for the player to have to view rapidsequential changes in the modeled scene on the display. Thus, in oneaspect of this embodiment, the length of time may be manually controlledby the player by player inputs from one or more user input devices, suchas a keyboard, mouse or other pointer or microphone. In another aspectof this embodiment, the length of time may be a predetermined length oftime, such as, for example, 10 seconds before rendering the next scenechange on the display. In the alternative, the length of time may beproportional to the attractiveness value of the target object beingviewed.

In another embodiment, modeled scene outputted to the player interfaceand rendered on the display is independent of the viewpoint and gazedirection of the avatar's modeled eye. In accordance with thisembodiment, the player views the modeled scene from a perspective otherthan the player's avatar, such as, for example from a bird's eye view ora third person perspective. The player may also be able to see thechanging gaze patterns of the player's own avatar in the modeled scene.

It is to be understood, however, that the detailed description andspecific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, are given by way of illustration and not limitation. Manychanges and modifications within the scope of the present invention maybe made without departing from the spirit thereof, and the inventionincludes all such modifications.

1-23. (canceled)
 24. A method for animating an avatar's gaze, the methodcomprising: providing a digital representation of an avatar including atleast one modeled eye and a modeled scene in a computer memory;determining a field of view for the modeled eye of the avatar, whereinthe field of view encompasses visual targets in the modeled scene;directing the modeled eye to gaze at different selected visual targetsin the field of view in an automated sequence of changing gazedirections determined at least in part on respective attractivenessvalues for each of the visual targets; determining the respectiveattractiveness values based at least in part on predefined userpreferences for specified characteristics of prospective visual targets;and outputting data configured to cause a client computer to display arendered view of the modeled scene, avatar and modeled eye.
 25. Themethod of claim 24, further comprising determining the respectiveattractiveness values based on a measure of movement of correspondingones of the visual targets within the field of view.
 26. The method ofclaim 24, further comprising determining the respective attractivenessvalues based on a measure of sound associated with the visual target.27. The method of claim 24, further comprising determining therespective attractiveness values based on a geometrical relationshipbetween each visual target and the modeled eye.
 28. the method of claim24, further comprising determining respective durations of gaze directedat each of the selected visual targets in the automated sequence, basedon the respective attractiveness values.
 29. The method of claim 24,further comprising including in the predefined user preferences valuesfor any one or more of the specified characteristics selected from thegroup consisting of gender, sexual orientation, race, hair color, eyecolor, body type, and clothes.
 30. The method of claim 24, furthercomprising fixing the respective attractiveness values for each visualtarget.
 31. The method of claim 24, further comprising varying therespective attractiveness values for each visual target based onchanging attributes of each visual target during modeling of the scene.32. The method of claim 31, further comprising determining theattractiveness value based on a current location of the visual targetsin relation to the avatar, wherein at least one of the visual targetsand the avatar are in motion relative to one another.
 33. The method ofclaim 24, further comprising determining the attractiveness value of theselected visual targets based at least in part on weighting features ofthe visual targets according to the predefined user preferences.
 34. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded withinstructions operative to cause a computer to perform the steps of:generating a digital representation of an avatar including at least onemodeled eye and a modeled scene in a computer memory; determining afield of view for the modeled eye of the avatar, wherein the field ofview encompasses visual targets in the modeled scene; directing themodeled eye to gaze at different selected visual targets in the field ofview in an automated sequence of changing gaze directions determined atleast in part on respective attractiveness values for each of the visualtargets; determining the respective attractiveness values based at leastin part on predefined user preferences for specified characteristics ofprospective visual targets; and outputting data configured to cause aclient computer to display a rendered view of the modeled scene, avatarand modeled eye.
 35. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 34, encoded with further instructions for determining therespective attractiveness values based on a measure of movement ofcorresponding ones of the visual targets within the field of view. 36.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, encodedwith further instructions for determining the respective attractivenessvalues based on a measure of sound associated with the visual target.37. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34,encoded with further instructions for determining the respectiveattractiveness values based on a geometrical relationship between eachvisual target and the modeled eye.
 38. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 34, encoded with furtherinstructions for determining respective durations of gaze directed ateach of the selected visual targets in the automated sequence, based onthe respective attractiveness values.
 39. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 34, encoded with furtherinstructions for including in the predefined user preferences values forany one or more of the specified characteristics selected from the groupconsisting of gender, sexual orientation, race, hair color, eye color,body type, and clothes.
 40. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 34, encoded with further instructions for fixing therespective attractiveness values for each visual target.
 41. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, encodedwith further instructions for varying the respective attractivenessvalues for each visual target based on changing attributes of eachvisual target during modeling of the scene.
 42. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 41, encoded with furtherinstructions for determining the attractiveness value based on a currentlocation of the visual targets in relation to the avatar, wherein atleast one of the visual targets and the avatar are in motion relative toone another.
 43. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 34, encoded with further instructions for determining theattractiveness value of the selected visual targets based at least inpart on weighting features of the visual targets according to thepredefined user preferences.